Looking for a phone number in an old IM? No problem. Unless you change the default archiving setting (which is easy to do - see below), Yahoo! Messenger automatically saves a history of your instant messages, alerts, conferences, and text messages, and you can review them whenever you want. Here's how:

1. In your Contact List, find the name of the person with whom you were having the conversation that you now would like to review. Double-click their name in your list to open a Conversation Window. (Don't worry, they won't see anything or get any message.)
2. In the window where you usually see your IM conversations, click Show Recent Messages. Ta-da! Your most recent conversation with them appears in the window.
3. If you want to view an earlier conversation you had with this person, scroll to the top of this one and click View Full Archive. And if you'd like to not save conversations, or would like them to be deleted each time you sign out, then click Archiving Preferences to make an adjustment.

The "Message Archive" window can also be opened at any time from the main Yahoo! Messenger window by opening the Contacts menu and clicking Message Archive.

If you'd like to NOT archive messages, or would like them to be cleared each time you sign out, here's how:

1. Click the Messenger menu.
2. Select Preferences.
3. Click Archive.
4. Select one of the three options.
• "Save all my messages" saves every IM conversation, even when you sign out. This option is selected by default when you install Yahoo! Messenger.
• "Save all my messages, but clear them each time I sign out" is a great choice for a shared public computer. During the time you're signed in, you view your recent conversations, but once you sign out, all of those messages will be deleted.
• "No, do not save any of my messages" means archiving is OFF. No items will be saved.
5. Click Apply, then OK at the bottom of the window.

Please note: Archives (."dat" files located on your system) are lightly encrypted and can only be viewed by the Yahoo! ID that created them. These archives are stored locally on your system, so the conversations held on one computer are only accessible from that computer. After archives are deleted, they cannot be retrieved.